Story By:- Shefali Pattnaik, 19
At a time, when life seemed to be falling apart, love felt like crime, self doubt hovered all around, and even the thought of trusting someone was tormenting, God blessed me with these four idiots, my Anmol Ratans.
This is us, The Couch Potato Crew. The reason why waking up at 6 every morning to go to school never felt like a punishment and also the reason why bunking classes even in 12th grade, wasn't that shameful.
They say, good things take time. I believe in the same. It took me 17 years to finally have these handful of people, my girls, I can love with all my heart and completely rely on.
We met each other about 2 years back and connected instantly. We have spent days doing all nonsense, gossiping, ranting about our lives, judging people, planned trips together just to realize that we are too lazy to even get out of our beds to eat the food already served.
Back then, life was Sholay, back benches were the fortress, we were Gabbars. Initially, teachers tried to be the Thakur, but after a point, even they were sure, "Inka kuchh nahin ho sakta"
But then, school ended, we all managed to pass, that too with flying colors (still trying to figure out how). And, the real life started. Like everyone else, even we promised to stay in touch always, and be there for each other. But deep inside, we all were unsure.
And as expected, life happened. All of us got busy with our studies, new colleges and coachings.
Life was still Sholay, even we were Gabbars, but our career interest turned out to be the real Thakur and destroyed our fortress.
Technology kept us connected. But can some photographs and few hours of video calls (once or twice a month) ever replace the never ending chit chats?
But now, with the lockdown going on, we have got ample amount of time in hands. We keep texting all the time, video calls happen almost everyday. Calling each other to brag about what we cooked today (how we destroyed the kitchen) is a must.
We still do miss each other. We also miss going out together, badly. The random couples in the park must be missing our offensive comments. CNS is still waiting for us to barge in with our uniforms on and sit there for hours. Sadly, all that ain't happening.
But, thanks to the entire Lockdown scenario, at least we don't miss the feeling of being around all the time or missing out on not so significant details of each other's life.
We know, once all this ends, we will be busy again. But, at the same time, we are hoping that we have learnt to stay connected in this manner despite of our busy lives.